Alright. Now that I’ve sufficiently recovered from Black Friday, I can get on with September and the making of many delicious panini. Ladies and gentleman, please allow me to introduce to you The Nutella Supreme, a panino entirely of my own creation. Well. Almost.

What you do need is great bread and a jar of Nutella. As far as the bread is considered, for a Nutella panino I favour a quality baguette. Toronto’s ACE Bakery makes the most adorable mini-baguettes, which are perfect for individual servings. This means Cream Puff does not have to share her bread and Nutella. This is a very good thing.

My love affair with Nutella goes back as far as I can remember. But of all my Nutella memories, none are more thrilling than the blissful afternoon snacks that my brother, little cousins and I enjoyed on those occasions when we were in Italy for the summer. Because we would stay with my grandparents whose home was high up in the hills of Le Marche, my grandmother tended to buy the few foods she did not make herself in bulk. As a result, we didn’t have those tiny little jars of Nutella or those little snack-sized packages. No. We had a vat of Nutella. That’s right. A big plastic tub of the world’s greatest chocolate spread. Greedy little beasts that we were, we wouldn’t even wait for my grandmother to properly spread it on bread for us. Instead, we’d rip large loaves of bread into hunks and then dip the bread directly into the tub of Nutella.

Of course only a grandmother would let you do such a thing. And what fun we had! So with this lovely memory in mind, I was settled on making my Nutella panino when I received an e-mail from a reader who explained that her daughter likes to eat Nutella with peanut butter and strawberries. Now I am very familiar with Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches … consider them a homemade version of Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. But for some reason, the idea of topping this luxurious concoction with strawberries just never occurred to me.

Inspired, I set about to create a new panino. I began with my little mini-baguettes, sliced in half and lightly buttered on each side. I grilled the baguette halves in the panini press for a few minutes. After removing them from the press, I let them cool slightly. If I had begun layering on the peanut butter and Nutella right away, the hot bread would melt the toppings and you’d have a very leaky panino, which is not necessarily a bad thing if you’re consuming it in total privacy with no one to watch as you greedily lick peanut butter and Nutella off your paws (or is that just me?). However, if you plan on taking a picture for your blog, I recommend letting the bread cool slightly.

Once the bread had cooled a bit, I spread peanut butter on one half and Nutella on the other. I topped the peanut butter half with sliced strawberries and sprinkled sliced almonds on the Nutella half. I sandwiched the two together, dusted the top with icing sugar and then … because one can never have too much Nutella … I drizzled some more Nutella over the entire thing.

4 mini-baguettes, halved or 1 baguette, sliced into four equal pieces and then halved

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup Nutella

1/2 cup peanut butter

4 strawberries, hulled and sliced

1/4 cup sliced almonds

icing sugar for dusting

Heat your panini press.

Spread the butter equally on both sides of your bread.

Grill your bread in the press for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Be careful not to burn your bread.

Let the bread cool for a few minutes.

Spread the peanut putter equally on 4 of the bread halves.

Spread the Nutella equally on the other 4 bread halves.

Layer the strawberry slices over the 4 bread halves covered with peanut butter.

Sprinkle the almonds over the 4 bread halves covered with Nutella.

Sandwich the bread halves to form 4 panini.

Dust with icing sugar and drizzle on more Nutella if desired.

Enjoy!

Note: This recipe will serve 4. Feel free to use more Nutella or peanut butter depending on your preferences.

I do not recommend spreading the filling on your bread and then grilling the panini. The filling will leak out and you’ll end up with no filling on your bread but lots on your panini press!

The lovely Meeta of What’s for Lunch Honey? (how happy am I that I met Meeta!) hosts a recurring event called The Monthly Mingle. This month’s theme is your favourite holiday cuisine. Based on all the lovely memories that I have of enjoying Nutella while on vacation in Italy, this would have to be it. As a result, The Nutella Supreme is my entry for the 4th edition of Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. Thank you so much for hosting this event, Meeta! I can’t wait to see what next month’s theme is.

48 comments

Ciao, Ivonne!
MMMMM…
Gives me a good reason to open up my jar of Crema Gianduja.
I recall the Nutella filled crepes consumed while walking along the banks of the Seine in Paris.
Now, you’ve inspired another recipe using the fresh figs this week.
Stay tuned…

who takes these photos???? they should be arrested for…..for….mmmmm forcible drooling of the mouth! how does that work? I look at an image taken on the other side of the world, and my mouth drools, my brain says ‘eat it..now’ and my tummy rumbles! Your work amazes me..such passion and quality..I don’t even like nutella that much.

Your panino sounds absolutely heavenly! Excellent choices for pairings, and thank you for the great hints about constructing the masterpiece (and reducing messy cleanup!) I hope your oven-less days continue to this delicious and endurable!

Sil (Bs As)

When I was 15 (back in the early 1980s), my father sent me to Heidelberg for the summer to visit Uncle Wolfie. It was my first exposure to Nutella (and hardly my last). I ate it on fresh bread with fresh butter every day for breakfast.

Back then, it was hard to find the little jars of yumminess except in fancy imported food stores. By the time you could find them in most grocery stores, I had already given up sugar and chocolate for health reasons.

But, whenever I see a food blogger write about nutella, it never ceases to raise very happy and tasty memories of my summer in Germany. Thanks!

Like you, Nutella brings back lots of happy family memories for me. The Italian producers are actually (VERY) distant cousins on my grandfather’s side. My grandmother’s kitchen and my father’s kitchen were never without a jar. I’m happy to carry on that tradition for my nephews.

I love nutella, but haven’t bought it in quite awhile…terrible. I have been feeling for you as you languish without an oven in the cream puff house! Thank goodness you have your baking classes (It is so great that you are doing that. If there was a school in my area where I could go part time, I would love it). I was recently in Toronto again, but it was a quick, impromptu trip. I did have a wonderful dinner at Tutti Matti, a little Italian restaurant, and wondered if you’ve ever been? We really enjoyed it.

Lynn in Tucson

My host family in France STILL (20 years after the fact) talks of my quirky affection for Nutella on fresh, Ardeche peaches. Yum!!!!!!

Ah! Now that is TOO beautiful to eat. But I bet it helps asuage the pain of Black Friday. Just a little.

Maryellen

Do you ever watch Everyday Italian on the Food Network? Giada made a fantastic panini using strawberries and nutella sandwiched between pound cake slices. Now you can have a nutella panini for each hand So delicious–can’t wait to try yours!

This picture is luscious, but there’s something about nutella I just don’t like. It’s not rational because I love chocolate and I love hazelnuts, and I love them together, but nutella just doesn’t do it for me. And they have the worst commercials (making it out to be a nutritious option because it contains milk is ridiculous).

kellymo

Wow! I feel silly asking, but was it the comment I left on your ’5 things’ post?
This is amazing. We will definitely have to make this (although I should probably fast for a day afterwards – the 10 year old will run it off promptly).

Yummmmm,Ivonne. These look so good – especially since I’ve had only an apple for dinner — make that 1/2 of an apple. I’m headed to Lisbon & Barcelona tomorrow. Would love to try El Bulli everyone keeps blogging about, but don’t think we’ll get there.
Stay well….